A Guide to the Allan Shivers Papers,
1949-1984

Correspondence, administrative files, and personal papers comprise the Allan Shivers Papers, 1949-1984, documenting Shivers’ political career and tenure on the Board of Regents of the University of Texas.

Accession No.

AR: 85-112; 86-107; 94-041; 98-360; 2012-178

OCLC No.:

903960591

Extent

32 ft., 9 in.

Language

English.

Repository

The University of Texas at Austin, Dolph Briscoe
Center for American History

Governor Allan Shivers (1907–1985) was born in Lufkin, Texas, the son of Robert Andrew and Easter (Creasy) Shivers. After graduating from the University of Texas in 1931 with a B.A. degree, Shivers passed the state bar exam, and received his LL.B. degree in 1933. In 1934, at the age of 27, he was elected as a Democrat to the Texas state senate, the youngest member ever to sit in that body. Three years later, Shivers married Marialice Shary. He served in the United States Army during World War II, and after the war, was elected lieutenant governor of Texas. In the early 1950s, Shivers defended state claims to the Tidelands against the Truman administration, and as a result, he broke with the national Democratic Party and helped Republican nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidential campaign. In 1973, Shivers was appointed to a six-year term to the University of Texas Board of Regents, whereupon he served as chairman for four years.

Sources:

Procter, Ben H."Shivers, Robert Allan."Handbook of Texas Online.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association. Accessed October 12, 2011. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fsh40.

Correspondence, administrative files, and personal papers comprise the Allan Shivers Papers, 1949-1984, documenting Shivers’ political career and tenure on the Board of Regents of the University of Texas. The bulk of the collection consists of Shivers’ UT administrative files and files belonging to Weldon Hart, who was the Chairman and Executive Director of the Texas Employment Commission in the 1950s. Correspondence relate to the establishment of the M. D. Anderson Hospital. Personal papers concern family finances, medical records, the Shivers Library and Museum, the “Woodlawn” mansion in Austin, golf tournaments, the Reagan-Bush campaigns, and well-known politicians such as Ann Richards, Lloyd Bentsen, J.J. Pickle, Ralph Yarborough and others. The collection also includes tape recordings of speeches made by Shivers and nine volumes of his bound speeches.